Carpet rolls and supporting and handling mechanism therefor



July 13, 1965 H. w. THOMPSON CARPET ROLLS AND SUPPORTING AND HANDLING MECHANISM THEREFOR Filed Jan. 2, 1963 United States Patent 3,194,509 CARPET ROLLS AND SUPPORTENG AND HANDLING MECHANESM THEREFOR Harry W. Thompson, Chicago, liL, assignor to Conco Engineering Works, Inc, a corporation of Iilinois Filed Jan. 2, 1963, Ser. No. 249,0?6 3 Claims. (Cl. 242-68) This invention relates to mechanism for handling rolls of carpeting and, more particularly, to mechanism for supporting carpet rolls in which the rolls may easily be unwound with subsequent rewinding through drive connections of a relatively permanent nature.

At the present time, carpeting is supplied from the mills wound on a tube of cardboard or similar material. When it is desired to mount the carpet roll on a portable rack, such as shown in Patent No. 2,601,560, it is customary to unwind the carpeting from the tube and attach the carpeting to a spindle member by means of clamps as shown in the referred to patent. This results in unnecessary handling and added equipment, with resultant higher costs. In an effort to avoid this handling, a system, such as shown in Patent 2,838,249, has been devised in which the spindle for supporting the carpet roll has compressible members engageable within the tube of the carpet roll whereby the carpet roll may be unwound and may be rewound by means of power drive to the spindle which is transmitted through the compressible members to the carpet roll. This has not proved entirely satisfactory, due to the gradual breakdown of the tube of cardboard or similar material supplied within the carpet roll and resultant failure to positively drive the carpe-t roll in rewinding the carpeting.

An object of this invention is to provide a carpet roll supporting structure in which the carpet roll is easily mounted for display and handling and in which parts of the power rewind mechanism are of a substantially permanent nature.

Another object of this invention is to provide a new construction for a tube on which a carpet roll is mounted in which the tube is pre-formed at one end with at least one drive slot engageable by a drive lug whereby repeated winding of the carpet roll may occur without deformation of the end of the tube.

Another object of the invention is to provide positive drive connecting mechanism for a carpet roll embodying relatively simple parts which may be incorporated in presently available structures to adapt them for the new and improved operation, reducing the required handling of the carpet rolls.

Still another object of the invention is to provide mechanism for mounting a carpet roll and providing a drive connection therefor including a tube of cardboard or the like disposed within the roll of carpeting, a spindle or rod disposable within the tube with a collar secured thereto, and interconnected drive lug and slot means formed one on the end of said tube and the other on collar establishing a substantially permanent drive connection between said tube and spindle with the collar compressively engaging around the end of said tube to prevent deformation of the tube end.

Further objects and advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary front elevational view of the carpet roll supporting and handling mechanism;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary end elevational view taken looking toward the right-hand end of FIG. 1 with parts thereof broken away;

FIG. 3 is a vertical section taken generally along the line 3-3 in FIG. 2; and

ice

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic view showing in partial assembly the spindle and collar mechanism with a carpet roll tube with the carpeting omitted therefrom.

While this invention is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail an embodiment of the invention with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the invention and is not intended to limit the invention to the embodiment illustrated. The scope of the invention will be pointed out in the appended claims.

The prior patents referred to previously generally disclose the environment in which the apparatus disclosed herein is used. In these patents, a portable structure is shown in which a rack is movable along rails to a desired position. As shown herein in FIG. 1, the rack has uprights and 11 and each of these uprights has vertically spaced openings 12 in which a pair of saddles 13 and 14, respectively, are mounted. These saddles each have a hook portion 15 (FIG. 2) engageable behind a flange 16. of the rack upright to lock the saddle in position. The height position of the saddles is variable, dependent upon the particular openings 12 into which the saddles are placed. The saddles provide a pair of supports for a carpet roll mounting spindle which is positioned at the desired height depending upon the location of the saddles in the uprights 10 and 11. The saddles have generally semicircular cradles in which the spindle is rotatably supported.

The spindle 20, sometimes referred to as a rod, is located lengthwise in the rack by means of locating flanges 21 and 22, releasably secured to the left-hand end of the spindle 20 as viewed in FIG. 1, as by setscrews engaging with the spindle, and at the other end by mechanism to be described.

The mechanism associated with the right-hand end of the spindle comprises a first flange 25 which is welded to an end of the spindle 20, as indicated at 26, and a second flange 27 welded to the spindle. The flanges are spaced apart a distance to receive the saddle 14 therebetween, as shown in FIG. 3.

The foregoing structure provides a mounting for the spindle 20 on the rack uprights 10 and 11 with the spindle located lengthwise relative to the racks.

As known in the art, the spindle 20 has lugs at an end, as indicated at 28, to form a drive connection with a power operator positionable within the end of the hollow spindle. Upon actuation of the power operator after it is positioned within the end of the hollow spindle, the spindle 20 can be rotated on the saddles to rewind carpeting on the roll after a part has been unwound for display or cutting off a part thereof.

The mechanism of this invention relates specifically to a drive connection between the spindle 20 and the carpet roll. This connection embodies a collar 30 secured to the spindle flange 27, as by welding along the common face, with the collar having an annular flange 31 overlying and spaced from the spindle 20. The flange 31 has a slightly outwardly flared inner face 32. The collar flange 31 is spaced from the spindle 20 to receive an end of a tube 33 on which the carpet is wound at the mill. This tube is conventionally of cardboard or similar material and when an end thereof is placed in the space between the spindle 20 and the collar flange 31, a tight fit is obtained with a slight depression of the tube end by means of the gradually decreasing space between the spindle 20 and the collar flange 31.

A positive drive between the spindle and tube 33 is obtained by providing a pair of preformed slots 35 and 36 in the tube 33 which coact with a pair of drive lugs 37 and 38 operatively associated with the spindle and 0 specifically extending inwardly from the inner face 3 of the collar flange 31.

With the foregoing structure, a positive drive connection is obtained between the drive lugs 37, 38 and the slots 35, 36 in the end of the carpet roll tube 33 and the tight fit of the collar flange 32 on the end of the tube compresses the end of the tube to prevent play between the lugs and slots and prevent breakdown in the end of the tube 33. This provides a relatively permanent drive connection between the spindle 20 and the carpet roll.

In assembling the spindle and drive connecting mechanism to the carpet roll, the flanges 21 and 22 at an end of the spindle Ztl are removed from the spindle and the end of the spindle which mounts these flanges is inserted within the carpet roll. The carpet roll tube 33 is then relatively advanced toward the right as viewed in FIG. 4 to bring the tube slots 35 andfi into alignment and engagement with the drive lugs 37 and 38. The final seating and squeeze on the end of the tube 33. may be obtained by a hammer blow against the end of. the spins dle 20. When the drive connection is completed, the flanges 21 and 22 are then placed on the opposite exposed end of the spindle 20 and the entire unit in assembled relation can be mounted on the saddles 13 and 14.

The structure providing the drive connection can be easily supplied as a modification kit to presently existing spindles 20 in which the flanges 21 and 22 are permanently mounted on both ends thereof by first removing the flanges at one end. The collar 30 is then placed on the spindle and welded to flange 27 which is already on the spindle. The pair of removable flanges 21 and 22 are then provided to take the place of the permanent flanges that were removed. Because of this, the drive lugs 37 and 38 are on the collar 30; however, in building a new unit, they could be on the spindle 20.

I claim:

1. A carpet roll supporting structure providing for display, unwinding and rewinding of the carpet roll comprising; a hollow non-metallic tube on which a carpet of coextensive length is adapted to be rolled, a spindle posi.

tioned within said tube and extending beyond the ends of the tube, said spindle having an outer diameter sufficient to snugly receive said tube to prevent radial deformation thereof, a collar secured to said spindle adjacent an end thereof and having an annular flange surrounding said spindle and spaced therefrom a distance to receive an end of the tube therebetween and lit between the tube and the carpet, said flange having a slight radial flare to facilitate insertion of said tube and compressively engage the outer surface of said tube, the radial flare being 'substantially less than the thickness of the tube so that the outer surface of the tube is slightly compressed while the inner surface of said tube remains undeformed radially, an axially extending lug mounted between the flange and the spindle, and a slot in said tube end for receiving said lug whereby the tube is compressed around the lug for positive driving engagement.

2. A carpet roll supporting structure as in claim 1 and further including an additional lug spaced 180 degrees fromsaid first lug and a second slot in said tube end for receiving said additional lug.

3. A carpet roll supporting structure as in claim 2 and wherein the widest portion of said flange taken in a plane passing through the axis of said collar is substantially less than the thickness of the tube so that the flange may be easily inserted between the tube and the carpet, and removable locating flanges on the other end of said spindle so that the tube and roll may be telescoped over the spindle from said other end.

References Cited by the Examiner UNlTED STATES PATENTS 759,085 5/04 Elixman et al. 24268.4 1,242,506 10/17 Wood et al. 242-58.6 1,487,279 3/24 Silvis 24268 1,506,891 9/24 Duncan 24-267.1 X 1,575,758 3/26 Hasler et al. 24268 1,671,724 5/28 Johancen'et a1. 242-684 2,838,249 6/58 Riemenschneider 242-552 FOREIGN PATENTS 568,807 11/57 Italy.

MERVIN STEIN, Primary Examiner. 

1. A CARPET ROLL SUPPORTING STRUCTURE PROVIDING FOR DISPLAYE, UNWINDING AND REWINDING OF THE CARPET ROLL COMPRISING; A HOLLOW NON-METALLIC TUBE ON WHICH A CARPET OF COEXTENSIVE LENGTH IS ADAPTED TO BE ROLLED, A SPINDLE POSITIONED WITHIN SAID TUBE AND EXTENDING BEYOND THE ENDS OF THE TUBE, SAID SPINDLE HAVING AN OUTER DIAMETER SUFFICIENT TO SNUGLY RECEIVE SAID TUBE TO PREVENT RADIAL DEFORMATION THEREOF, A COLLAR SECURED TO SAID SPINDLE ADJACENT AN END THEREOF AND HAVING AN ANNULAR FLANGE SURROUNDING SAID SPINDLE AND SPACED THEREFROM A DISTANCE TO RECEIVE AN END OF THE TUBE THEREBETWEEN AND FIT BETWEEN THE TUBE AND THE CARPET, SAID FLANGE HAVING A SLIGHT RADIAL FLARE TO 